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Chapter 007 Don’t You Want to Be Alone Together?

It was the first day of the game launch, and there weren’t many players logged in—mostly newbies who didn’t even understand the game itself. No one was talking to each other, all busy using the time to familiarize themselves with the game system.

But it didn’t take long for the dungeon to officially begin, and all players in the room were teleported to an open area.

Surrounded by dense tropical forest, it stretched endlessly without a trace of civilization in sight.

Then, system prompts appeared before everyone—

【Battle Zone: Frenzied Island】

【Difficulty: Low】

【Time Flow: 3x】

【Introduction: You have been invited to participate in a one-day wilderness survival reality show. Now, the show begins.】

【Current Task: Survive until the next day.】

【Important News: The Fresh Meat Protection Association strongly condemns this overly macho show and will arrive on the island in 3 hours. Please prepare accordingly.】

“……”

A moment of silence enveloped the area.

Finally, the muscle guy spoke up: “What kind of joke is this? Fresh Meat Protection Association? Is it aimed at me?”

“Hahaha, who told you to choose a heavy tank? Can you blame anyone else?” sneered a man beside him who was prettier than most women.

The muscle guy gave him a glance, snorting coldly: “You’re what they want to protect? A useless twink that only secretes estrogen.”

Although players could change their appearance, they couldn’t change their gender, thus avoiding any cross-dresser issues. As for preventing people from making female characters but insisting they’re male… the game allowed checking others’ profiles, with painfully little information visible, but gender was impossible to hide—male panels were blue, and female panels were pink.

Xia Xinyan surveyed the crowd for a moment before taking Ling Mo’s hand: “Let’s move!”

Ling Mo was taken aback: “Are we not staying here longer?”

“Staying here isn’t that interesting,” Xia Xinyan winked at him with a teasing hint, “Don’t you want to be alone together?”

“Ah…” Ling Mo went speechless.

Seeing the pure look on this guy’s face, Xia Xinyan couldn’t help but mutter a fool in her heart.

His defense was just too low… breaking it was effortless.

Tsk, but this little sister was getting more and more accustomed to it.

After entering this dungeon, the system issued each person a smart watch that not only told the time but also displayed a map of the island, functioning like a radar.

There were a lot of supplies scattered throughout the island, all marked on the map, so their first task was to collect some supplies to ensure they had defensive means.

“This dungeon’s time flow is three times, meaning one second in reality equals three seconds here. The three-hour prep time is based on the dungeon time, so we only have an hour of safety,” Xia Xinyan explained the game mechanics while strolling leisurely.

Ling Mo still seemed confused: “Doesn’t that mean a single playthrough takes several hours?”

Even with a three-times flow, there were still eight hours in a day, which felt way too long for a game.

“Not at all,” Xia Xinyan shook her head, “No matter how long you spend in the dungeon, as long as it’s over three hours, you’ll only experience a maximum of three hours in the real world upon exiting. This is fixed based on reality’s longest playtime. Isn’t it fascinating?”

“Can it really be like that? What’s the principle behind it?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s the realm of the gods.”

Ling Mo clearly didn’t take her seriously; instead, he thought hard about the time flow issue: “So if we spend ten years in the dungeon, we come out to find only an hour has passed, wouldn’t there be a time dissonance?”

“That won’t happen. The maximum duration for a dungeon is half a month. If you don’t complete the task after that, you’ll be judged as a failure and exit the game.” Xia Xinyan smiled, explaining, “Besides, when leaving the game, the system will diminish the player’s experiences in the dungeon to avoid severe dissonance.”

At least that’s how it is in the early stages.

The so-called diminishing experience doesn’t mean players forget everything in the dungeon, but rather that their impressions become less profound, as if they just watched a first-person movie.

This ensures players won’t face psychological problems, given that death is genuinely frightening for most people.

The dissonance caused by time flow difference is also one reason. This way, players just feel like they lost track of time playing, much like when they say, “Just one more win, and I’ll sleep,” only to end up playing until dawn—thus the dissonance isn’t too severe.

“So what was that Fresh Meat Protection Association the system just mentioned?” Ling Mo frowned, looking very serious, “An enemy? Coming to kill us?”

“Most likely,” Xia Xinyan tilted her head, eyeing him and couldn’t help but laugh.

This guy… is starting to take it seriously…

For a straight guy like him, the allure of a challenging game outweighed any attraction to girls, even while playing alongside them. If a girl happened to be terrible at the game, he might internally berate, “Why did you pair with such a noob? Please just quit the game already.”

Don’t doubt it; she knew herself well—she used to be just like that.

…But it’s fine, the most important thing about playing this game is to take it seriously.

“Does player appearance matter?” Ling Mo continued to ask, “Since it’s the Fresh Meat Protection Association, didn’t a few good-looking ones come in earlier?”

“Once they entered this wilderness survival game, they’re no longer considered Fresh Meat,” Xia Xinyan replied with a light laugh.

Although “Realm of Divine Presence” is billed as a second world, at its core, it’s still a game. Like in typical RPGs, even if a player customized their character to look like Diao Chan, the thugs they encounter won’t react to them because they’ll follow their designated routes.

From the game’s perspective, this dungeon is similarly structured; that group belonging to the protection association is likely hardwired to see players as threats. But nothing is absolute—if done properly, players can sway NPCs too—though it’s generally not easy, and it depends on the game system’s attitude.

For this dungeon, which lacks any substantial background or intelligence, the protection association exists solely as NPCs hunting players, leaving them with virtually no chance of defection.

However, now wasn’t the time to worry about those things.

While chatting, the two accidentally walked to the edge of a stream.

The afternoon sun filtered through the trees, casting light over the stream whose water danced over the rocks with a light tinkling sound. The animals drinking by the riverside were startled and scattered, creating a scene that appeared to be a paradise from a painting.

This world, this game, was not only real but also held a marvelous beauty rarely encountered in reality.

For a moment, Ling Mo was captivated.

Xia Xinyan held his hand and stood by the riverside for a while, then smiled: “How about we take a break here?”

 

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